More Books Should Be Made Into Video Games

This week, Harry Potter fans screamed twice: First, upon the leaked video of an apparent open-world Hogwarts game in development, and secondly at JK Rowling, after she once again amended plot details of her series via a reply to someone else’s tweet.

Gita loves Harry Potter, and drunk people used to yell “You’re a wizard!” at me on the street because my glasses were black and round, so there might not be two better people in this exact office building to yell about the current conversations surrounding Harry Potter, fandom and video games on this week’s Kotaku XP. It’s like TV, except I’m on it!

At the end of this episode, we arrive at a question: What film or fiction franchise would you, the reader, most like to see translated into the language of Triple-A Open-World Video Game? I assume for many people younger than me the answer is Harry Potter.

Though because I am apparently 800 years old, I personally would go absolutely bonkers for a retelling of the Chinese historical classic The Water Margin in the style of The Witcher 3. Oh! Also I want a The Count of Monte Cristo game, also in the style of The Witcher 3. Also, The Three Musketeers, in the style of The Witcher 3.

Wow. More books should be video games.

Comments

The first series that springs to mind is Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky.An open world game where the inhabitants belong to Kindens,possessing some of their attributes.Wasp-Kinden are aggressive,can fly and have a firey sting for example.Spider-Kinden are into plots and politics.Bee-Kinden are placid,fiercly loyal to their queens and become beserk fighters when she is threatened.Mantis-Kinden are rare and deadly,the worlds most feared warriors.There are dozens and I could go on and on about how much it would suit the modern game world...

I like the idea of the Tomorrow series, the Australian books by John Marsden, being made into a episodic adventure series, like what Telltale does. You have multiple characters, they can die, they need to go through challenges, etc.

Triple AAA games nailing the brief. Indie games surprising people out of nowhere, and expansions and patches that completely turn a game around. It's been a good year for games - now it's time for you to vote for your favourite.